of the same year, brought into parliament, for the relief of the Roman catholics of that portion of the kingdom. The individuals of that proscribed sect were still incapacitated by law from holding or transmitting landed property, and were liable to other very severe restrictions. These were now removed by a bill which passed without opposition. The passing of this bill was at the present period a popular measure, although a dozen of years had scarcely elapsed, since the people of Scotland had almost universally, and with the utmost violence, combined to oppose any relaxation of the penal laws against the catholics. But that sentiment which forms the great bulwark of religious liberty began now to be adopted by the advocates of reform :—that religion, or our duty to God, is a subject about which men are only interested as individuals, and concerning which society has no right to interfere. And on the other hand, the opposers of every kind of innovation, were also disposed to regard the catholics with a favourable eye, as the adherents of an ancient system, which reprobated all novelties, and tended to inspire the utmost reverence for established authority.

Early in 1800, the great measure of a legislative union with Ireland was carried into effect. Administration had found it necessary to delay this interesting affair, in consequence of the strong opposition it met with in the Irish parliament; but during the late recess they had obtained a more ample majority. The British parliament, upon Mr. Pitt's motion, had passed resolutions in favour of the union. The business was introduced to the Irish parliament on the 5th of February, by a message from the lord-lieutenant, in which his excellency stated, that he had it in command from his majesty, to lay before the houses of legislature, the resolutions of the British parliament; and to express his majesty's wish, that they would take the same into their most serious consideration. After a long and spirited debate, the ministry prevailed, by a majority of 43, for acceding to his majesty's recommendation. The distinguished abilities of

Mr. Grattan, which had been voluntarily cast into obscurity, were once more brought before public on this interesting occasion. In a debate, which took place on the 17th of February, he opposed the measure with extreme vehemence. The question, however, was carried by a majority of 161 against 115, and as the discussion proceeded, the numbers of opposition appeared to diminish. The last struggle was made on the 13th of March, when sir John Parnell moved to petition his majesty to call a new parliament, in order that the sense of their constituents might be more fully ascertained; but this motion was overruled by a majority of 46. In the mean time, the business proceeded with little opposition in the house of lords, and, on the 24th of March, that house adopted the whole of the articles of union with few alterations. On the Friday following, both houses waited on his excellency with a joint address to that effect, which was afterwards transmitted to Great Britain; and no time was lost by the ministers in submitting the measure anew to the British parliament.

On the 2nd of April, a message from his majesty was presented to each of the houses of the British parliament, communicating the resolutions of the Irish parliament in favour of an entire union between the two kingdoms, and recommending the speedy execution of a work so interesting to the security and prosperity of the British empire. In the house of lords it was opposed by lord Holland, chiefly on the ground, that an union at that period was not the spontaneous offer of the parliament of Ireland, uninfluenced by corruption or menace. The whole articles of the union were afterwards moved, and carried, in a committee of the house. In the house of commons similar debates occurred. Mr. Pitt strenuously supported the measure; which was opposed by Mr. Sheridan and Mr. (now lord) Grey. The latter concluded, by moving an address to his majesty, requesting a suspension of all proceedings relative to the union, till the sentiments of the people of Ireland could be ascertained. Mr.

Grey's motion was, however, rejected, on a division of 236 against 30: and thus this great measure, so important to the sister island, in a religious as well as a civil point of view, was ultimately secured.

The political situation of the British empire, in consequence of the aggrandizement of France upon the continent, during the long and memorable war which followed the revolution, rendered the union of its members, and the concentration of its energies, more than ever, desirable. Almost every regular power of Europe lay prostrate at the feet of Bonaparte. He was surrounded by kingdoms of his own formation, at the head of which were men who had fought under his banners, or were allied to him by blood, and whom the combined influence of gratitude and policy bound indissolubly to his interest. The complacency with which he surveyed his elevation seemed impaired only by the circumstance that the British nation appeared both to possess the power and the inclination to resist his advances towards universal empire. Here, amidst all the devastation and convulsions of the continent, a barrier was erected, against which the waves of his fury were impotent and unavailing. Here, notwithstanding some unhappy deviations from the general system, was an asylum for justice, and a sanctuary for freedom. In such circumstances, the attention of ministers was very naturally directed to the production of national unanimity and harmony. They knew that, by the removal of those disabilities under which certain classes of his majesty's subjects laboured, they should suppress the murmurs of discontent, and by converting the lethargy of indifference into the activity of willing service, procure a reinforcement of strength equal to the pressure of the crisis. They knew that the vigorous hand will ever follow the conciliated heart; and that all the compulsory conscriptions of power are infinitely inferior to those voluntary exertions which originate in the gratitude and happiness of a free people. Accordingly, in 1803, a bill had passed to relieve the

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Roman catholics from some of the penalties and disabilities to which they were then subject, on subscribing the declaration and oath contained in the act of the 31st. of his late majesty. But much more effectual measures were contemplated, when, on the 5th of March, 1807, a bill was brought into the house of commons by lord Howick, which, without having for its object what was called the emancipation of the catholics, was adapted to afford them great satisfaction, and was doubtless intended as the precursor of a system of enlarged toleration, embracing the removal of all the disabilities under which both the catholic and protestant dissenters of the united kingdom had still the misfortune to labour. The following is an enumeration of the disabilities to which, by the then subsisting laws of this realm, the catholics of Ireland, who form threefourths of the population of that island, were still liable :—

They could not sit in either of the houses of parliament. They could not be appointed to any of the following offices— . chief governor or governors of that kingdom; chancellor, or keeper, or commissioner of the seal; lord high treasurer; judge in any of the courts of law, or in the admiralty court; master of the rolls, secretary of state; keeper of the privy seal; vice-treasurer, or his deputy; teller, or cashier of the exchequer; auditor-general; governor, or custos rotulorum of counties; chief governor's secretary; privy-counsellor ; king's counsel; serjeants, attorney, or solicitor-general; master in chancery; provost, or fellow of Trinity College, Dublin; post-master-general; master and lieutenant-general of ordnance; commander-in-chief; general on the staff; sheriff, and sub-sheriff; or to the office of mayor, bailiff, recorder, burgess, or any other office in a corporation, unless the lordlieutenant should grant a written dispensation for that purpose. No catholic could be guardian to a protestant; and no catholic priest could be guardian at all. Catholics were only allowed to have arms under certain restrictions. No catholic could present to an ecclesiastical living. The pe

cuniary qualifications of catholic jurors was made higher than that of protestants, and no relaxation of the ancient rigorous code was permitted, except to those who should take the oath and declaration prescribed by the 13th and 14th Geo. III. c. 3.

In the year 1793, an act had been passed by the Irish parliament, by which the catholics of Ireland had been enabled to hold any rank in the army, except that of commander-in-chief of the forces, master-general of the ordnance, or general on the staff. No similar act had been passed by the British parliament; the consequence of which was, that if any circumstances demanded the presence of an Irish regiment in Great Britian, its officers would be disqualified by law from remaining in the service, and must either subject themselves to certain consequent penalties, or relinquish a profession in which they had been educated, and to which alone they could look for their respectable establishment in life. At the time of passing the Irish union act, it had been distinctly promised that this inconsistency should be corrected without delay; this pledge, however, had not been redeemed; and it was one of the objects of the present bill to do away so absurd an incongruity.*

* This bill was intended to provide, 1st,―That it should be lawful for his majesty to confer any commission or appointment whatever, in his majesty's naval or military forces, upon any of his subjects without exception, provided that every such person should take and subscribe the following oath :—

"I. A. B. being by this commission appointed to be-(here set forth the appointment) do hereby solemnly promise and swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to his majesty King George III. and that I will do my utmost to maintain and defend him against all treasons and traitorous conspiracies, and against all attempts whatever that shall be made against his person, crown, or dignity; and that I will, to the utmost of my power, resist all such treasons, conspiracies, or attempts, and will also disclose and make known the same as soon as they shall come to my knowledge: and I do also promise and swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will, to the utmost of my power, maintain and support the succession to the crown of Great Britain and Ireland, as the same now stands limited by law; and that I will also, to the utmost of my power, maintain and support the established constitution and government of the said united kingdom, against all attempts whatever that shall be made against the same."